Final Blog

I am sad to say that this is our last week of blogging in PR Research.  Over the semester I have learned a great amount on what public research really is, and why it is so important in the industry.  I have discussed what I have learned in research class and have been able to tie in the connection of the field of medicine.  Our final post is pertaining to discussing two different classmate's blogs and what we found interesting about them.

The first blog I found interesting was Kevin's blog on survey research in the supplement industry.  Not only did I find his blog interesting and informative but I was able to relate to what he had to say on a personal level.  Having some knowledge in the supplement industry I too also agree that survey research is a very efficient, inexpensive, and productive way to get statistical quantitative results very fast.  Also, since the consumer is the one taking the survey and giving his/her feedback, it becomes very beneficial to the company manufacturing the supplement when researching what can be changed or improved in the product to benefit the consumer.

The second blog that interested me was Andrew's blog on experimental research being conducted on the difference between aluminum and wooden bats.  Like Andrew said, I agree that it is ridiculous to allow college level players to use aluminum bats, especially the more powerful hitters that are eventually going to be drafted in the majors.  In the study he talks about, the aluminum bats are dominating the market and I think there should be a line drawn at a certain level when it comes to putting the players, pitcher especially, at such a high risk of getting hurt.

medicine and experiments

In the past week, the final research method we studied was experimental research.  We learned that when conducting experimental research, the researcher has to have and experimental group and a control group.  Usually within the experiment, the experimental and control group have all the same variables expect one difference, and that depends on what the researcher is trying to test in their study.  When the participants do not know what is being tested and the researcher does, this is called a blind study.  However, when neither the researcher or the participants know what is actually being tested, this is called a double blind study.


Experimental research is extremely popular in the medical field.  The United States especially is known for our many scientific breakthroughs in medicine.  Why do you think this is?  In the United states over 50% of people are on a prescription drug, and when a person gets sick in our country, what do they do?  They pop a pill and expect to feel healthy again.  Well this would not be possible if experimentation did not occur in the medical field.  The most popular experiment that takes place in the medical field is when it comes time to testing a new drug.  A blind study is usually conducted where one group receives the new medicine and does not know, and the other group receives the same pill, however that is the control group, and their pill is diluted with water or sugar instead.  This is done simply to test the different results that occur between the experimental group and the control group and discover if the actual new medicine works, and what its side effects are, if any at all.  


Then we ask ourselves, is conducting experiments a humans with medical drugs that have not been tested before even ethical?  The risks and dangers that come along with experiments done for medical benefit are extremely high.  The article I found does a great job debating between the ethics of medical experimentation and all the new cures that have been found because of it.

Survey Research

Over the past week our PR Research class has discussed one of the most used research method called survey research.  Survey research is both very popular in the professional setting, as well as the academic setting.  Until we discussed the different scholarly uses of the academic approach of using a survey I was not aware of how often it is used in academia.  Surveys are great when it comes to the inexpensiveness and quick response they get.  Also, the fact that surveys are quantitative it is much easier for the researcher to compare numbers statistically rather than measuring the behaviors of people.


Within the medical field, the Center for Survey Research affiliated with University of Massachusetts Boston has been conducting several different experiments using survey research.  They divided the survey subjects into two different areas of focus.  The first experiment was measuring whether the studying of certain treatments on the patients for purposes of developing new cures was ethical or not.  The second experiment was how medical ethics studies focus on the different ways academic health centers discover and manage conflicts of interest in their conduct of medical research. 


Big Public Relations sites such as PR Newswire even includes information on medicine and surveys.  A featured article I found on their site was about the top 10 medical innovations suspected to be introduced in 2011 and the research was conducted through surveys. Overall survey research is a very valuable method of research to researchers especially when it comes to the inexpensiveness, quickness of results, and the comparability of the end statistics.   

Qualitative Research

Qualitative research is becoming more prominent in medicine and health care. 

Qualitative research is basically the gathering of data through non-numerical information which investigates the "why" and "how" of a certain topic.  This research can be conducted through many methods such as observation, focus groups, and discussions.  

Physicians and clinical and health services researchers may be unfamiliar with qualitative research and unsure how it relates to their interests. The evidence-based medicine movement has taught that clinical practice and health policy should be based on critical review of the best available evidence. To appreciate the evidence supplied by qualitative research, one must be able to address the general question: What are the goals of qualitative research? Principles of evidence-based medicine and behavioral sciences that further suggest that to review any study critically, one must be able to answer several more specific questions: Is the design of the study appropriate to its goals? How valid are its results? How well do they apply to one's practice or circumstances?

Unfortunately, the discussion of qualitative research in the medical field provides no easy answers to any of these questions. Rather, it reveals the controversy about how qualitative research can address clinical questions. An article  titled "Understanding the Patient's Needs and Experiences" discusses the qualitative approached in conducting qualitative research on a patient.

Clinical experience, based on personal observation, reflection, and judgment, seems to be needed in order to translate scientific results into treatment of individual patients.  Personal experience is often characterized as being anecdotal and a poor basis for making scientific decisions.  After learning about qualitative research in class I now realize how much qualitative research is done that I have not realized and that in the medical field it is a more powerful persuader to the scientist in changing clinical practice than a scientific publication or article itself. 

Blog Post on Peers

I really enjoyed reading Sam's blog post about the Social Network and unobtrusive research.  I too saw the Social network and really enjoyed learning about how Facebook came about.  Facebook is huge in our society today when it comes to networking, or just staying in contact with old friends and colleagues.  As Sam mentioned in her blog, I too did not realize that Mark Zuckerberg used unobtrusive research until he ultimately came about the idea of Facebook.  He unobtrusively conducted an experiment online called FaceMatch, where he matched up Harvard girls to one another and made the website viral.  Students were able to vote which one they thought was better looking.  Because the website went viral so quickly he was able to achieve social unobtrusive research without people knowing they were being studied as well no biased opinions.   He went on from there to ultimately create the Facebook that mostly all of us use today.




The second classmates blog I read was Fran's on social media.  She discussed how not even knowing it, everyone that is on social media networks throughout the day such as Facebook and Twitter, are conducting unobtrusive research.  For example, I lost my phone a week or two back and had no way to get a hold of my friends to see what they were doing.  However, any chance I had, I checked my Twitter and Facebook accounts to see what was going on, and what everyone was up to for the weekend.  In addition, we are able to see what movie and sport celebrities are up to on a daily basis if they use Twitter.  As Fran mentioned, we can follow our favorite celebrities and get updates to what they are doing, what they like, or how they feel about something.  I follow actor Jeremy Piven, also know as Ari Gold on the HBO Series Entourage.  In his last tweet he said "Some people have to bungie jump in port-a-potties to make a living...." referring to the movie Jackass which debuts Friday.

Medical Unobtrusive Research

This week in class we learned about unobtrusive research.  Unobtrusive research basically pertains to methods of gathering data by means of obtaining information without the subject actually knowing their being observed.  We probably all have participated in unobtrusive research whether we know it or not.  


After learning all the different types of unobtrusive research in our PR class, I realize that I conducted unobtrusive research for my internship on a day to day basis.  For the medical marketing company I worked for over the summer I conducted historical and legal research as well as content analysis.  My duties included finding key government representatives that were involved in the regenerative medicine and stem cell bills passed or being passed.  Additionally, I had to search historical data on past events and forums topics discussed, keynote speakers, and effective the were.  I had to then collaborate my research, analyze it, and report back to my managers of my findings.  


Research in the medical field has always been a huge factor to future success, whether it is to find a new cure, to prevent a disease from reoccurring, or to lengthening ones life.  Doctors have been unobtrusively studying their post-transplant patients for quite some time now.  Since it is hard to measure how well or not well a post-transplant patient is doing, medical doctors have been using the historical and indirect measures of research.  Indirectly they have their family members watch and record any strange behavior or symptoms they may be experiencing. Historically, doctors have been using this unobtrusive technique for decades, searching patient's insurance providers to document past medical symptoms and keeping an up to date database of all records and past history.

Blog Reviews

The first blog I read that I can relate to is Kevin's blog, titled Sports PR: Fitness and Supplement Industry.  I was very interested in his blog mainly because I have a strong awareness for fitness, nutrition, and even the ethics behind the supplements that are on the market today.  It is essential to do your research and reviews when looking to buy products in stores such as GNC, Vitamin Shop, and even underground websites.  Kevin talks about the researching of ingredients to mix into supplements which I agree is extremely important since the product will be eventually consumed by the consumer, us.  He then discussed the website for supplement reviews.  I also agree that reviewing people's opinions on their experience with the supplements before purchasing is a great tool for research in the supplement industry.  My friend once took NO-Explode and then experienced a very increased heart rate, until later searching reviews that said the same thing.

The second blog I read was Brittany's blog on the Jay-Z/Eminem concert.  Not only am I a huge fan of Jay-Z and Eminem, but grew up listening to their music as they became two of the greatest rappers alive.  The concert was a once in a life time opportunity to experience and unfortunately I was not able to attend because I waited until the last minute.

I like how Brittany compared the concert fan turn-out based on the levels of evaluation we learned in class.  The fact they were able to fill Yankee Stadium with over 40,000 fans both nights amazes me.  Even though I feel like the PR people in charge of the concert promoted it very well, at the same time I feel like as the long as they got the word of Jay-Z and Eminem coming to town, word of mouth would have done the rest.  However, I do feel like measuring the concert with the five levels of promotion would be very interesting when finding out the actual outcome and outgrowth levels.